John Trapp on Isaiah 9:4

Ver. 4. For thou haſt broken the yoke of his burthen] i. e. Thou haſt diſenthralled and delivered thy people from the burthenous yokes of their enemies, both corporal and ſpiritual: that taking thine eaſie yoke, thy light burthen upon them, they might ſerve thee without fear in holineſs and righteouſneſs before thee all the days of their lives, Luke 1.74. The Jew-Doctors expound all this of Senacheribs Tyranny, and their deliverance therefrom. But the Prophet intendeth a further matter, ver. 6.7.

And the ſtaffe of his ſhoulder] Wherewith he was beaten and baſtinado'd. See chap. 14.5.

The Rod of his oppreſſour] Metaphora ab agaſonibus, a Metaphor from Horſe-drivers, who lay on without mercy. Whipping among the Turks hath been uſually inflicted even upon the greateſt Baſhaws of the Court upon the leaſt diſpleaſure of the Tyrant:Ib. 361. eſpecially if they be not natural Turks born. The poor Captives met with hard meaſure this way at Babylon: but Satans ſlaves with much harder. Chriſt fitly noteth here, that the Rod wherewith the Devil whippeth ſinners is their own luſts and paſſions: yea herewith they puniſh themſelves, by his inſtigation, as the Lion beateth himſelf with his own tail.

As in the day of Midian] beaten by Gideon, Judg. 7.22. So the day of Gibea, Hoſ. 9.9. The day of Jeruſalem, Pſalm 137.7. The battel of Agin court; The Sicilian veſpers, &c. Gideon by the ſound of Trumpet and ſhining of Lamps out of earthen broken veſſels, overcame thoſe Midianites: ſo by the Trumpet of his Word and light of the Goſpel carried through the world by weak Inſtruments, hath Chriſt confounded his Adverſaries, 1 John 2.14. as One fitly maketh the compariſon. See it largely proſecuted in ſixteen particulars in Cornelius à Lapide upon the Text.